Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:08 AM ET

SMCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.66
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$18.33+57.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.68±48.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.67430 puts / 638 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$8.33largest put OI
IV30171.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$190per 1% move · flip ≈ $6.67

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$16+37.2%26d
Fri, Dec 18$18.33+57.2%54d
Fri, Mar 19$17+45.8%145d
Thu, Jun 17$12+2.9%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18.3311428415568$2M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 18.33 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot18.33113.3323.3333.3345609595
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMCL open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

Open-interest change: building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration; the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot18.33113.3323.3333.3345601212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot51830435668235%148%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 158.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 6.6751525355065+$332−$332
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0010.00130.00-0.00-0.01
0.94-0.0150.01440.01-0.01-0.06
0.89-0.016.670.02600.01-0.01-0.11
0.81-0.028.330.03910.01-0.02-0.19
0.72-0.02100.04940.02-0.02-0.29
0.63-0.0211.670.05480.02-0.02-0.38
0.54-0.0313.330.05630.02-0.03-0.46
0.47-0.03150.05540.02-0.03-0.54
0.41-0.0316.670.05310.02-0.03-0.60
0.36-0.0318.330.05010.02-0.03-0.65
0.31-0.02200.04690.02-0.02-0.70
0.28-0.0221.670.04360.01-0.02-0.73
0.24-0.0223.330.04050.01-0.02-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot111.67182433.3346.671200
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot111192836.6751.67191191
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: SMCL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk